Action game board



y 3, 1963 G. L. BELL 3,098,657

ACTION GAME BOARD Filed July 18, 1961 INVENTOR. GEORGE L. BELL ATTORNEYS United States Patent "ice 3,093,657 ACTEUN GAME BOARD George L.Bell, 236 (Ienter St, Huron, Cvhio Filed duly 18, 1961, Ser. No. 124,8291 Claim. (ill. 273123) This invention relates to an action game for two,four or six players, and more particularly to a board upon which anaction game called Bank Ball can be played.

A variety of games are presently played on game boards in which gamepieces in the form of discs are propelled across the board by snappingwith the fingers, tilting the board, or by striking the discs withpaddles and the like. The discs may strike one another as in billiards,or they may be directed into goals in the form of holes or wickets. Theparticipants in such games take turns, and when one player is moving thegame piece the other players customarily remain idle while observing theprogress of the game. In other games a pair of participants may attemptto move the game pieces and simultaneously defend a certain goal, but insuch games the number of players is limited to two or four persons.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide anaction game requiring constant player activity which may be played byyoung or old persons.

Another object of the invention is to provide a board for an action gamewhich may be played by two, four or six players that activelyparticipate in the game at all times.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the followingspecifications and from the drawings in which like numbers are usedthroughout to identify like parts.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the game board of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 22 of FIG. 1;and

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of the action game board.

In order to achieve the above objects of the invention, there isprovided a game boa-rd for an action game that has a frame which extendsaround a playing surface and extends upwardly therefrom. The game boardalso has a rail that is spaced upwardly from the playing surface fordefining a court in the central portion of the board. A portion of theboard between the rail and the frame is marked to divide the playingsurface outside the court into a plurality of shooting zones from whichdiscs are propelled into the count by snapping them with the fingers toslide along the playing surface and strike a rubber ball to impel ittowards one of a pair of opposed goals in the court. The ball remains inthe court, rebounding off of the rail until it finally rolls into one ofthe goals while the discs are free to slide under the rail into one ofthe shooting zones.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 an actiongame board constructed in accordance with the present invention andwhich may be of any rigid material such as wood, metal and cardboard orthe like. The game board 10 is preferably rectangular and of suificientsize to enable two, four, or six participants to play the gamesimultaneously. A rectangular game board 10 measuring approximately twofeet by three feet has been found large enough for six players yet smallenough to be easily transported.

The game board 10 includes a rectangular base 11 in the form of a planarsheet having a smooth, flat upper surface 12 which constitutes theplaying surface of the game. A frame 13 extends around the peripheraledge of the base 11 and protrudes upwardly from the playing surface 12.The frame 13 gives rigidity to the game board Patented July 23, 1963 1t)and defines the perimeter of the playing surface 12.

A continuous rail 14 defines a generally rectangular court in the centerportion of the playing surface 12 that is located inwardly from theframe 13. The rail 14 is rigid and is spaced upwardly from the playingsurface 12 by a plurality of posts 15 which support the rail 14.

A pair of spaced openings 16 and 17 form goals at the opposite ends ofthe court defined by the rail 14. The openings 16 and 17 are locatedalong the longitudinal center line of the game board 10 adjacent opposedend sections of the rail 14, and these openings are preferably circularwith relatively large diameters. The game is played with a resilientball 18 that is free to roll along the playing surface 12 in the courtdefined by the rail 14 and to rebound from this rail. The ball 18 may beof any diameter although it must be large enough to prevent its passagebeneath the rail 14 yet be small enough to roll in the goal formingopenings 16 and 17.

Game pieces 19 in the form of discs, such as checkers, are snapped bythe fingers and slide along the playing surface 12 to strike the ball 18thereby impelling it toward one of the openings 16 and 17. The discs 19'are retained on the playing surface 12 by the upwardly extending portionof the frame 13.

Markings 2t), 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 on a portion of the playing surface12 between the frame 13 and the rail 14 define shooting zones on thegame board 10 from which the discs 19 are snapped into the courtsurrounded by the rail 14'. The markings 20 and 23 extend along thetransverse center line of the game board 10 normal to the frame 13 todivide the marginal portion of the game board 10 into two shooting zonesof equal size, and the diagonal markings 21, 22, 24 and 25 aredisregarded when only two players are participating in the game.

When four players are participating they are divided into two teams, andone player has a shooting zone between the markings 20 and 22 while hispartner on the same team has a shooting zone between the markings 21 and23. The two players on the opposing team have shooting zones between themarkings 23 and 25 as well as 24 and 20'. It is apparent that in thecase of four players, the shooting zones overlap between the diagonalmarkings 21, 22 and 24, 25. When more than two players participate, thediscs 19 may be passed freely between the team members upon request.

When six players participate, two teams of three players each are formedwith two players of a team playing forward positions opposite each otherin the zones marked by lines 26, 21 and 22, 23. The third member playsdefensively in the zone marked by lines 24, 25 at the opposite end ofthe board. This team with two forwards and one defensive member attemptsto place the ball in opening 16. The opposing team follows the samepattern with two members playing forward positions opposite each otherin the zones marked by the lines 23, 24, and 2e, 25, and the defensivemember plays in the zone marked by the lines 21, 22.

At the start of play each player is given one game piece 19 whopositions it within his shooting zone as shown in FIG. 1 whichillustrates the positioning of the game pieces 19 for the start of agame when six players are participating. 'I he resilient ball 18 isplaced in a detent 26 that is located within a circle 27 on the playingsurface 12 at the center of the court enclosed by the rail 14. Thedetent 26 has a diameter considerably smaller than the diameter of theball 18 whereby the detent 26 merely positions the ball 18 in the centermarking circle 27, and the ball 18 is readily moved out of this detentby striking it with a disc 19. It will be apparent that at the start ofthe game each player will have one disc 19 in his respective shootingzone.

At a pre-arranged signal such as a count of three, one player on eachteam snaps his disc 19 to propel it from his respective shooting zoneinto the court defined by the rail 14. The initial shot is made by onlytwo players, and when four or six players participate, only two may makethis first shot. The initial shot may be made from any zone, except whentwo play, and then the shot must be made from the zones marked by thelines 21, 22 and 24, 25. After the ball is placed in motion by theinitial shot all players may shoot from their proper zones.

An important feature of the invention is that the posts 15 space therail 14 upwardly from the playing surface 12 a distance greater than thethickness of each disc 19 to enable the disc to slide over the playingsurface 12 and beneath the rail 14 into and out of the central court. Assoon as any disc enters the central court by passing under the rail 14it is considered to be in free play and may be grasped by an opposingplayer. However, when any disc leaves the central court into a shootingzone no player from an opposing team may reach into the shooting zone tograsp the disc, and if such an event occurs it is considered to be afoul. A foul also occurs if any player touches the ball 18 or if anyplayer impel-s the ball 18 with such force that it leaves the court.

In the case of a foul, the ball 18 is placed in one of a pair of detents28 and 29 positioned between the detent 26 and the openings 16 and 17respectively. If a foul is called against a player who is attempting toimpel the ball 18 into the opening 16, the ball 18 is placed in thedetent 29 and the player attempts to impel the ball toward the goal 16by propelling a disc 19 from his shooting zone without interference fromthe opposing player or players. When a team is given the privilege ofmaking a foul shot any member of the team may be selected to make theshot.

Before taking his free shot, the selected player declares how many timesthe ball 18 is to bank ft the rail 14 before it is considered to be infree play. After this number of banks, the ball 18 is then free and maybe impelled in any direction by the discs 19 that are snapped from anyof the shooting zones in a manner previously described. When the balldoes not complete all the banks and fails to drop into the opening itmust 'be allowed to stop before the game is resumed.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed anddescribed, it will be apparent that various modifications may be made tothis action game board without departing from the spirit of theinvention or the scope of the subjoined claim. For example, suitablelegs may be placed on the game board 10 to raise it from a supportingsurface.

I claim.

An action game comprising a game board having a fiat, rectangularplaying surface, an edge frame extending around the margins of saidplaying surface and protruding upwardly therefrom, a continuous rail,means for mounting said rail in spaced relationship upwardly from saidedge frame and parallel thereto and spaced vertically above said playingsurface for defining a rectangular court in the central portion of saidboard and a passage beneath said rail, markings on a marginal surfaceportion of said board between said rail and said edge frame for dividingsaid marginal surface portion into at least a single zone at each endthereof and a plurality of zones at each side thereof, said playingsurface having openings therein near opposed ends of said court fordefining goals, and three ball retaining depressions in said playingsurface, said depressions being located substantially in longitudinalalignment and at the two quarter points and the center of said playingsurface, a resilient ball for rolling on said playing surface withinsaid court, said ball having a diameter greater than the vertical heightof the passage between said rail and said surface and so related to thediameter of each of said openings that said ball may drop into saidopenings, and a plurality of discs for sliding on said playing surfaceand striking said ball to impel the same toward said goals, each of saiddiscs having a thickness less than the vertical spacing between saidplaying surface and said rail whereby said discs may be propelled undersaid rail from any of said zones into said court for striking said balland under said rail out of said court into another of said zones forcontacting said frame.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,527,876 Janik Feb. 24, 1925 FOREIGN PATENTS 425,487 Great Britain Mar.15, '1935

